The International Olympic Committee is an international non-governmental non-profit organization and the creator of the Olympic Movement. The IOC exists to serve as an umbrella organization of the Olympic Movement. Its primary responsibility is to supervise and coordinate sports activities within the organization.The International Olympic Committee is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its membership consists of the 205 National Olympic Committees.
In December 2006, IOC developed partnership with CUAHA to respond to HIV&AIDS through sports activities targeting sports men as well as the youth. Since then, CUAHA and IOC have implemented joint sports programmes especially in Tanzania. IOC together with UNAIDS produced a standard sports tool kit and has worked with CUAHA because of its potential networks to distribute the toolkit in different parts of Tanzania. A series of meetings between CUAHA and IOC have been organized to fully discuss how the programme could be effectively implemented in the country as well as replicated in other countries especially where CUAHA operates. A TOT seminar for 22 participants to familiarize them with the tool kit content was conducted in Tanzania. The trained 22 participants were asked to train other colleagues and team up with them to distribute the tool kit which CUAHA Tanzania team assisted to translate into Swahili! It is estimated that over 11,600 copies of the tool kit were distributed through CUAHA partner churches and organizations to the targeted groups in different parts of Tanzania.
In August 2009, IOC organized a 2 days’ workshop in Kampala Uganda that attracted participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to discuss possibilities for scaling up the project. Participants were drawn from the CUAHA main stream religions to the Pentecostals in the region.
During the workshop, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) promised to invest in churches as part of their bid to use sports as a tool for responding to HIV& AIDS. This was revealed by the IOC Development Director Thomas Sithole, while closing a two-day workshop on sports and AIDS in Kampala. “We have identified you as partners in saving the sportsmen’s lives and also working together in developing sports. We promise to give you the necessary push to make this venture a success,†said Sithole. Sithole had earlier told CUAHA that the Olympic Solidarity wanted to work with them to foster sports development because they both use youths, who are being targeted by the epidemic. He said by using the power of sports, the world can be made a better place to live in since it has the power to unite and educate masses without any divisions. “That is why Olympic Games have the viewers of more than 4.5bn,†he said. IOC plans to conduct another workshop in January 2010 targeting the CUAHA partner churches and organizations in Southern Africa to promote sports in the response to HIV&AIDS.